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$2M sought for parking kiosks in city

By Lyle Moran, lmoran@lowellsun.com

Updated:
02/13/2013 06:39:21 AM EST

LOWELL -- The city's administration wants to borrow $2 million to pay for new parking kiosks near the Tsongas Center and LeLacheur Park to better manage area parking and generate new revenue, City Manager Bernie Lynch said Tuesday night.

The new computerized devices would be placed on Father Morissette Boulevard and Suffolk Street, among other locations. They would be in addition to the kiosks spread throughout the downtown that replaced traditional meters.

Lynch told the City Council he did not have an exact figure of how many new kiosks would be purchased, but estimated they would pay for themselves in two to 2.5 years.

The increased funds coming into city coffers from the kiosks will help prevent any increase in parking rates in the foreseeable future, according to Lynch.

"The revenue generated from these will go a long way toward helping keep our Parking Enterprise (fund) very healthy for years to come," said Lynch.

The City Council set a public hearing on the loan-order request for its Feb. 26 meeting.

City Councilor Ed Kennedy said he would like a comprehensive summary of and rationale for the proposed borrowing before the council's vote on the topic.

City Councilor Marty Lorrey said the city's parking-kiosk plan could spur new businesses to move to the Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center at UMass Lowell, known as M2D2, which is located at the Wannalancit Mills Complex on Suffolk Street.

"We could get the companies in this area and the university gets to keep their alumni in the area," Lorrey said.

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Some of the new devices will also replace kiosks experiencing problems, including modem issues leading to kiosks not reflecting the total time someone has paid to park in a spot. The result has been some tickets being issued to motorists when they should not have been, which have been refunded, said Lynch.

City Councilor Rodney Elliott asked if the new kiosks would be "theft proof" in light of the city's past problem with kiosk theft. An employee of the city's former parking-management company allegedly stole $35,000 from kiosks in recent years, which was made public last year.

Lynch said the new kiosks would have the same reporting capabilities as other kiosks and the safeguards adopted after the theft remain in place.

According to a memo provided to the City Council, the city hopes to have the kiosks in place before the weather warms up later this year.

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